Conventionally, as microwave oven-cooking foods, those foods prepared by cooking deep fried goods such as croquettes, deep fries and deep fried chickens or rice, and freezing them, packaged in a bag or a container such as a tray are commercially available. When the microwave oven-cooking foods as mentioned above are cooked in a microwave oven, water or an oil in the foods is gathered in the wrapping bag or the container to be adhered to foods, so that there are some disadvantages that the tastes of the foods are spoiled, and that the water or the oil is adhered to hands, the oven, clothes, and the like. Especially, when deep fried goods such as croquettes, deep fries, deep fried chickens, deep fried potatoes, and egg rolls are cooked in a microwave oven, if water or an oil oozing from the foods is adhered to surfaces of the foods, there are some disadvantages that a crispy finish cannot be obtained, so that the tastes of the foods are drastically spoiled. In addition, there is a disadvantage in hamburgers, steam dumplings, broiled rice balls (yaki-onigiri), and the like that the stickiness of the foods is generated due to dew condensation on the surface of the wrapping material, thereby making the palatability poor.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, there have been proposed a laminated sheet comprising a hydrophobic fiber sheet that is water-permeable, serving as an inner layer contacting the food, an absorbent fiber sheet for absorbing and holding water serving as an intermediate layer, and a film made of a water-impermeable synthetic resin serving as an outer layer (see, for example, Patent Publication 1); an oil-absorbent, water-absorbent wrapping material constituted by a laminate comprising a gas-impermeable film layer serving as an outer layer, and a nonwoven fabric layer made of a thermoplastic resin, at least a part of the layers has a hydrophilicity, serving as an inner layer (see, for example, Patent Publication 2); a sheet for food wrapping constituted by an outer layer sheet, a water-absorbent sheet, and a liquid-permeable inner layer sheet (see, for example, Patent Publication 3); and the like. However, none of these were sufficiently satisfactory.
Next, a brewed good such as sake, sweet sake (mirin), or beer has been known to form a colloidal substance by association of a protein or an enzyme derived from rice or barley, the raw material in the process of the brewing process. This colloidal substance is causative of dregs which drastically spoil the quality as a manufactured article. Also, when this colloidal substance is tried to be separated by filtration, there arise some disadvantages that the filtration resistance drastically increases, thereby making it difficult to filter.
As processes for solving the disadvantages as described above, the processes as given below have so far been known:
(1) a process comprising adsorbing a causative substance of muddiness utilizing an adsorbent, and centrifuging the resulting mixture;
(2) a process comprising pre-coating a filtration material with an adsorbent or a filtration aid in advance, and separating away and removing the adsorbed-substance by filtration, while feeding a brewed good such as sake, sweet sake or beer; and
(3) a process comprising degrading a protein with an enzyme.
As the above-mentioned absorbent, there have been known an organic adsorbent such as tannin or polyvinyl polypyrrolidone (PVPP); and an inorganic adsorbent such as silica gel. As the filtration aid, diatomaceous earth, perlite, cellulose or the like has been known. Further, the protein-degradable enzyme includes papain or the like. Among them, the silica gel is widely used, because the silica gel has a smaller influence to the quality of the product to be filtered, and excellent adsorbability, and also excellent performance as a filtration aid.
In general, the silica gel can be prepared by a neutralization reaction between an aqueous alkali metal silicate solution and a mineral acid, and this preparation process is called a wet process. The wet process is classified into a precipitation method comprising reacting the components under neutral or basic conditions, to obtain a precipitated silicic acid which is more easily filtered; and a gel method comprising reacting the components under acidic conditions to give a gel-like silicic acid.
In the gel method, for example, a gel-like silicic acid (silica hydrogel) obtained by an acidic reaction is washed with water and dried, and thereafter the dried product is pulverized to give a silica gel. These silica gels generally have higher structural property as compared to those of the precipitation method, and their structural property can be kept even under high shearing force. Therefore, the silica gel has been used as a coating agent for synthetic leather and plastics, an anti-blocking agent for a resin film, an adsorbent, a separating agent, or a catalyst. Because of the properties as described above, the silica gel has been generally widely used in the field of filtration aid, as compared to the precipitated silicic acid.
The important feature as an absorbent is to adsorb a substance, and factors for limiting adsorption include 1) a high specific surface area, 2) selective adsorbability, and 3) ion exchanging capacity with a metal or the like. Similarly, there are two features, filterability and adsorbability (selective adsorbability), as the properties required for a filtration aid. Factors limiting the former (filterability) are filtration speed and the its own strength, and factors limiting the latter (adsorbability) are specific surface area, pore volume and pore size. In a case where a product to be filtered is a food, especially a luxury article such as a fermented drink such as beer, adjustment of very sensitive taste, flavor and a degree of coloration has been required. In silica gels for filtration aids, there has been strongly desired to even more highly precisely discern and select various components that give influences to taste, flavor and a degree of coloration, and adsorb only the unnecessary portions while passing the necessary portion. The realization of the high-precision adsorbability as described above relies on how precisely the pore size of the silica gel for a filtration aid can be controlled depending upon the size of the desired component to be removed from a product to be filtered.
Regarding silica gels for filtration aids, there are many patents published that define various properties in view of the above. For example, there have been disclosed baked silica xerogel (see, for example, Patent Publication 4); as a water-containing silica gel, a silica gel having given physical properties obtained by controlling a water content (see, for example, Patent Publication 5); a silica gel having a feature in its shape of thin slices, flakes or rods, the silica gel having specified physical properties (see, for example, Patent Publication 6); a silica gel for treatment of beer stabilization having the physical properties of a specific surface area of from 700 to 1000 m2/g, a pore volume of from 1.1 to 1.6 mL/g, an average pore size of from 6 to 10 nm, the silica gel being prepared by baking at a temperature of from 400° to 800° C. for 10 seconds to 10 hours (see, for example, Patent Publication 7); a silica gel for a filtration agent, characterized in that one having a pore size of from 50 to 500 Å has a pore volume within the range from 0.7 to 2.5 mL/g, and one having a pore size exceeding 500 Å has a pore volume within the range from 0.2 to 0.8 mL/g (see, for example, Patent Publication 8); a silica gel for a filtration aid, characterized in that a pore volume is from 0.6 to 2.0 mL/g, a specific surface area is from 300 to 1000 m2/g, a mode diameter (Dmax) of the pore of less than 20 nm, and a total volume of the pores of which diameters fall within the range of Dmax±20% is 50% or more of the entire pores, that the silica gel is amorphous, that a total content of metal impurity is 500 ppm or less, that when the chemical shift of Q4 peak in a solid Si—NMR is defined as δ (ppm), δ
satisfies −0.0705×(Dmax)−110.36>δ (see, for example, Patent Publication 9); and the like.
A method of making a leakage-preventing layer of a water-absorbent article moisture-permeable, thereby reducing a wet feel or damp feel upon fitting the article, and at the same time controlling water-containing swelling of skin, thereby controlling skin troubles has been used in the fields of baby's diapers, adult diapers, incontinence pads, panty liners, and the like. According to this method, water vapor is exhausted to an external of the absorbent article, thereby reducing humidity inside the fitted article. However, odor is permeated through the absorbent article together with water vapor, thereby consequently undesirably increasing unpleasantness of odor as compared to the absorbent article comprising a leakage-preventing layer that is not moisture-permeable. In addition, active carbon is porous and has a very large adsorption volume, and excellent moisture absorbency and water absorbency. However, the active carbon does not have moisture-releasing property or water-releasing property, so that once moisture absorption or water absorption takes place, a very long period of time would be required until drying, so that there is intrinsically a disadvantage that propagation of bacteria or the like is enhanced.
In view of the above, an absorbent article using a leakage-preventing layer having air-permeability and a deodorant (see, for example, Patent Publication 10) has been proposed.
Next, a synthetic resin such as a polyvinyl chloride resin, a polyurethane resin, a polyacrylic resin, a polyamide resin, a polyester resin, poly(amino acid)-based resin, a polyolefin-based resin, or an epoxy resin has been used for a variety of applications as a film in a wrapping material, clothes, a covering material or the like.
However, these resins generally have strong hydrophobicity but their water breathability is not high. Here, the term water breathability refers to physical properties relating to moisture-absorbing property and moisture-releasing property, which is an ability of taking in a large amount of water quickly under high-humidity conditions, and releasing water quickly under low-humidity conditions.
In addition, these synthetic resins may be used as synthetic leather in many cases. Here, synthetic leather refers to those comprising a support made of a woven fabric, a braided fabric, paper, or a nonwoven fabric and a natural leather-like surface layer made of a polymeric substance, which is a material finished in a leather-like fashion, a majority of which comprises a microporous member made of polyvinyl chloride, polyamide or polyurethane and a finishing layer made of a modified polyamide, polyurethane, a polyacrylic acid derivative, or a polyamino acid blend, formed on the surface of the microporous member. In recent years, the properties of the synthetic leather have improved, and there are some that are comparable in appearance and properties to the natural leather. However, recently, the sensitiveness and the demands of the consumers are also increasing, so that improvement in moist texture even more closer to that of the natural leather has been desired.
In order to improve the texture distinctively owned by leather as described above, a method comprising mixing collagen into a resin (see, for example, Patent Publications 11 and 12), a method of using an esterified protein (see, for example, Patent Publication 13), and the like have been disclosed.
Next, houses constructed under temperate humid climate in Japan have various disadvantages especially in the aspect of moisture control. For example, dampness accumulated by high temperatures and high humidity in the summertime give rises to cause unpleasant odor in wall, wooden material or the like, or bacterial growth. In addition, although the humidity inside the house in the wintertime is low, owing to the high airtightness of housing and the widespread of heating equipments, dew condensation of the internal part of a wall material is induced accompanying lowering in the temperature during nighttime, thereby causing deterioration of the wall material. In order to prevent beforehand the damages caused by bacterial growth and deterioration of the wall material due to dampness as mentioned above, conventionally, as those usable in drying and moisture control, unslaked lime, calcium chloride, silica gel or the like has been generally used, or dehumidification of indoors by a dehumidifier, air-conditioning equipments such as an air conditioner has been generally utilized. In addition, as a means of solving the disadvantage as described above, developments have been made on a composition comprising, as main components, a saponified product of a copolymer having a specified composition as a hygroscopic material, and a deliquescent salt, the composition further comprising a fibrous substance (see, for example, Patent Publication 14); or as moisture adsorbing-releasing construction materials, xonotlite-based, allophane-based and zeolite-based construction materials (see, for example, Patent Publication 15); and the like.
In addition, in recent years, with the changes in the improvement of living standards and life styles of people, there is a growing concern in the technique of removing odor that is disadvantageous from the viewpoint of environmental sanitation in ordinary households and public space. In connection with the disadvantages as described above, there is a strong demand from the society as well as industrial circles on the development of the techniques of removing these odors, so that it has becoming more demanding to sufficiently meet the requirement. Conventionally, as means of solving these disadvantages, developments have been made on, for example, an adsorbing substance-containing paper containing sepiolite powder (see, for example, Patent Publication 16); an aluminum compound-containing sheet-like substance (see, for example, Patent Publication 17); and the like.
However, all of the above-mentioned humidity-preventing drying agents have strong dehumidifying power, thereby making it difficult to control the amount of dehumidification or the dehumidifying rate. In addition, there are some disadvantages such as an effective period for adsorbing moisture is short, and hygroscopic function is dramatically lowered once a saturation point is reached, thereby making it impossible to use the drying agents repeatedly. Since such a material is excellent only in hygroscopicity, the material is always in a water-retaining state, so that the generation of microorganisms is accelerated, which tends to accompany an unpleasant odor. Zeolite is excellent in hygroscopicity but poor in humidity-releasing property, so that zeolite cannot be said to be suitable for a water adsorbing-releasing material, making it more likely to provide a hotbed of microorganisms and generation of foul odors. The dehumidification by a dehumidifier has a disadvantage energetically, and at the same-time causes to lower the humidity of the environment in the required amount or more, so that there is a possibility of having a harmful influence to health. In addition, materials such as a zeolite/cement-based construction material (see, for example, Patent Publication 18), and a silica gel-based water adsorbing-releasing agent (see, for example, Patent Publication 19) have been developed, many of which do not take careful notes in pore size distribution, so that these materials do not have excellent humidity-controlling functions, and at the same time the materials have small solid acid points, so that they do not have deodorization function. In order to overcome this disadvantage, a material utilizing siliceous grit (see, for example, Patent Publication 20) has been proposed.
On the other hand, in recent year, there are some concerns in a sick house syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity and the like. This is considered to be caused by an adhesive which is used upon pasting a wall paper, a gaseous chemical substance derived from a treatment agent used in a processing step of a construction material or the like. In addition, in a living environment, various odorous gases such as smokes from cigarettes and decomposed gases derived from microorganisms in a wet area have been generated. Therefore, a demand for a wall paper having a function of preparing a suitable living environment, such as deodorization function, has been very highly increased.
Next, conventionally, in the treatment of a burn, a cut, an abrasion, an ulcer or the like, as a wound covering material for covering or protecting an affected part, cotton, cotton gauze, a nonwoven fabric, an ointment or the like has been used. In addition, in burns, especially a nonwoven fabric made of pig skin or chitin fiber or the like has been used.
However, a cotton manufactured article such as cotton gauze cannot be said to have sufficient absorbability of a body fluid, so that there has been a disadvantage that the cotton manufactured article cannot quickly absorb a body fluid oozing from a wound. In addition, the cotton manufactured article shows a mild release of water, the cotton manufactured article is less likely to be dried, so that the wound tends to become damp. In order to prevent this, a cotton manufactured article for wound coverage has to be frequently exchanged, thereby giving rise to a disadvantage of requiring much labor. Also, ointment has some disadvantages such as the ointment has a low wound covering effect, and much labor is required for the treatment.
On the other hand, recently, alginic acid-based wound covering materials have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Publications 21 and 22). In both of these alginic acid-based wound covering materials, those in which a fibrous alginate is worked into a nonwoven fabric or a fabric have been used.
Next, conventionally, a pre-molding-type, or molding-type semiconductor device mounted to an information processing instrument such as a computer is manufactured as follows. For example, in the case of the pre-molding type semiconductor device, a package for housing semiconductor elements, comprising an insulation substrate made of an epoxy resin, the insulation substrate having dent portions formed on an upper side thereof for housing semiconductor elements, plural external lead terminals for leading out from the dent portion side to the outer side of the insulation substrate, and a lid member being mounted on the upper side of the insulation substrate via an encapsulation material, the lid serving to cover the dent portions of the insulation substrate is furnished. Next, each of the semiconductor elements is mounted to the bottom of the dent portions of the insulation substrate via a resin bonding material, and at the same time each electrode of the semiconductor elements is electrically connected to one end of the external lead terminal via a bonding wire, and thereafter, the lid member is bonded to an upper side of the insulation substrate via a resin encapsulation material, thereby air-tightly housing the semiconductor elements in the internal of the vessel comprising the insulation substrate and the lid member, to give a semiconductor device. Also, in the case of the molding-type semiconductor device, the semiconductor device comprises semiconductor elements, a substrate made of a metal material such as an Fe—Ni—Co alloy or an Fe—Ni alloy and plural external lead terminals, and a covering material made of an epoxy resin or the like, in which the semiconductor elements are fixed on the substrate via a waxy material such as a gold-silicon amorphous alloy, and at the same time each of the electrodes of the semiconductor elements are electrically connected to external lead terminals via a bonding wire, and thereafter, a part of the semiconductor elements, the substrate and the external lead terminals is covered with a covering material, to give a semiconductor device.
However, in this conventional semiconductor device, either the insulation substrate in the case of the pre-mold-type semiconductor device, or the covering material in the case where the mold-type semiconductor device is made of an epoxy resin or the like. The resin material such as the epoxy resin has poor moisture tolerance and more likely to absorb water, so that water contained in the atmosphere easily penetrates to the internal through the insulation substrate or the covering material. Therefore, consequently, there are some disadvantages such as oxidative corrosion is generated due to the water in the electrodes of the semiconductor elements or the bonding wire or the like, and at the same time the electrodes of the semiconductor elements and the bonding wire are likely to be snapped, thereby losing the function as a semiconductor device.
In order to overcome the above disadvantages, it has been considered to previously embed a filler made of particles of silica, alumina or the like into the insulation substrate or the covering material for the purpose of preventing penetration of water thereinto.
However, when the filler made of particles of silica, alumina or the like is embedded into the insulation substrate or the covering material, the embedded amount of the filler is at most 97% by weight, in consideration of moldability of the insulation substrate or the covering material, so that the resin material such as an epoxy resin is still contained in an amount of 3% by weight or so. Therefore, the penetration of water into the insulation substrate or the covering material cannot be completely blocked, and consequently, there is a disadvantage such as oxidative corrosion is still generated in the electrodes of the semiconductor elements, and the like.
In order to overcome the disadvantage as mentioned above, there has been proposed embedment of amorphous silica-based regular particles having specified particle size, specific surface area, amount of equilibrium moisture absorption (RH 50%) and bulk density in a resin for forming a package for housing semiconductor elements, thereby improving hygroscopicity of the package for housing semiconductor elements (see, for example, Patent Publication 23).
Next, as one embodiment of cosmetics, deodorant cosmetics for suppressing unpleasant feel due to excessive sweating by its antiperspirant function that controls perspiration, and at the same time suppressing unpleasant body odor generated of which main causation is sweat. As deodorant cosmetics, various types such as powder-sprays, roll-ons, sticks, gel, and cream have been conventionally used. These deodorant cosmetics usually comprise an antiperspirant component, an antibacterial component, and a deodorant component in the form of powder, an oil component, a surfactant or a wax, or the like. In order to prevent an odor from being generated from a human body, deodorant cosmetics containing a silver salt and/or a zinc salt (see, for example, Patent Publication 24), and the like have been proposed.
In addition, there has been a disadvantage in the conventional deodorant cosmetics that sticky feel is generated upon perspiration or after drying the perspiration. In the above-mentioned cosmetics, various improvements in feels of use such as silicic acid anhydride having perspiration-absorbing, sebum-absorbing effect is formulated, and a component having volatility mainly comprising ethanol or the like is formulated, for the purpose of giving a refreshing feel have been tried.
Next, inkjet printing process has some features of having smaller noises during printing and excellent high-speed printability, thereby facilitating multi-coloration. However, a fine quality paper or the like which has been used in ordinary printing is disadvantageous in ink absorbability, drying property and image quality such as resolution, so that specialized paper having improvement in these physical properties has been developed. A recording paper prepared by adding a porous inorganic pigment such as an amorphous silica for the purpose of increasing color development of an ink has been disclosed (see, for example, Patent Publication 25).
Finally, synthetic fibers have many of excellent physical properties such as mechanical properties, and have been used in multi-purposes such as applications of clothes. However, since the synthetic fibers are hydrophobic, their water absorbability or hygroscopicity is markedly low. Therefore, when the synthetic fibers are utilized for the applications of clothes, there are some disadvantages such as unpleasant damp feel is generated upon high humidity, or electrostatics are likely to be generated upon low humidity.
Therefore, there has been proposed a method of subjecting a polyester constituting the fibers to graft polymerization with a hydrophilic compound; a method of blending a hydrophilic compound in the polyester; a method of applying a hydrophilic compound to a fiber surface; or the like. However, in the case of the method of subjecting the hydrophobic compound to graft polymerization, if the hydrophilic compound is introduced in a large amount to impart sufficient hydrophilicity to the fibers, there is a disadvantage that inherent physical properties owned by the polyester fiber are lost. Also, in the case of a method of blending a hydrophilic compound into the polyester, there is a disadvantage that a feel of the fibers, especially skin feel, is more likely to be poor. Further, in the case of a method of applying a hydrophilic compound, there is a disadvantage that a hydrophilic compound is detached from the fiber surface by friction, washing or the like, so that the fibers do not have durability.
In addition, as an alternative method, there has been proposed the formation of a composite fiber composed of a hydrophobic polymer and a hydrophilic polymer. As one example thereof, a flat composite fiber in which a hydrophobic polyester and a hygroscopic polyamide are pasted together to form a composite has been known. However, in the case of this flat composite fiber, there are some disadvantages such as fiber cross section is deformed upon an after-process step such as extension processing, temporary twisting processing, or weaving step, or pasted portions are peeled away, thereby making it unpractical.
In addition, Patent Publication 26 proposes a core-sheath composite fiber comprising a hygroscopic polymer as a core component and a polyester as a sheath component, the polyester covering the hygroscopic polymer. However, the hygroscopic polymer, which is the core component has some disadvantages such as the hydroscopic polymer is swollen upon a hot water treatment such as scouring or dyeing, undesirably causing cracks on the fiber surface, whereby an oozing of the hygroscopic polymer or dye fastness is worsened.
In order to solve these disadvantages, a polyester fiber to which porous inorganic particles having hygroscopicity, so-called a wet silica, are added, has been proposed in Patent Publication 27. When this polyester fiber containing the wet silica is used, cracks of the fiber surface as those in Patent Publication 26 were certainly not generated.
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